Day One Curriculum Workshop "Reading the World: Exploring Daily Argument" developed by Beth Rimer and Linda Denstaedt for CRWP; includes Quick Writes and Writing Sprints
A summary of George Hillocks method of teaching argument writing, starting with the data that will become the evidence to develop a thesis statement and support a claim
Why Templates? Academic writing requires presenting your sources and your ideas effectively to readers. According to Graff and Birkenstein, the first element in the process involves “entering a conversation about ideas” between you—the writer—and your sources to reflect your critical thinking (ix). The templates allow you, the writer, to organize your ideas in relationship to your thesis, supporting evidence, opposing evidence, and the conclusion of the argument.
multiple choice - pick the direct quote that supports the claim
USE OF SOURCES (mini-unit menu) "Chapter 5: Writing from Sources"Close Reading and Writing from Sources by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey
"The move from 'conversation to composition' means that at some point students must commit ideas to paper or screen (116)."
"A well-designed writing assignment is a first step in helping students correctly match the task with the approach (119)." "The basic components of a writing prompt are (1) the topic, (2) the audience, and (3) the rhetorical structure or genre to be produced (120)."
Summary writing: Stop at three points in video or written text and write one sentence only stating the main point of each segment. After writing a total of three sentences, student revises to write a final brief summary.
Paraphrasing "Rather, a paraphrase is an accurate and complete representation of an author's ideas, in the order in which it was presented. The paraphrase is cited to signal the source, and the writer does not interpret or selectively omit inconvenient information that does not support one's claims (125-126)."
Direct quotations are used to gain support by quoting an authority or to capture vivid or technical language. See "Quote Sandwich" above for a way to combine the quote with the rationale.
Writing across multiple texts "A reader must construct meaning for herself by building organizational bridges that cross the divide between texts (131)."
"Inside the Life of a Piece of Writing" This site documents the process of argument writing, from start to finish, composed by twelfth grade students at Columbus High School in Columbus, Montana. Each student-composed piece took a full quarter of study to research, write, and compile. This argument piece serves as the culminating activity to represent the entirety of each student's argument learning over the span of the semester-long class.
This is the presentation Susie uses to get her students to write good conclusions to arguments. She credits the OWL (Online Writing Lab) at Purdue University for her information. She also found it effective for students to write the conclusions to someone else's essay.
Text Set Materials
full argumentation teaching rubric from LDC
USE OF SOURCES (mini-unit menu)
"Chapter 5: Writing from Sources" Close Reading and Writing from Sources by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey
Battling Bare image on //Military Spouse// magazine cover used for the "It Says, I Say" portion of the mini-unit
The Story of My Thinking by Gretchen Bernabei. The book is online with student examples. Lots of text structures for opinion writing.
ICE - Introduce, Cite, Explain your quotation
And What Do I Do Today? one day, one page lessons on the elements of argument
200 Prompts for Argument Writing from the NY Times. These prompts attach to articles related to the prompts.
"Inside the Life of a Piece of Writing"
This site documents the process of argument writing, from start to finish, composed by twelfth grade students at Columbus High School in Columbus, Montana. Each student-composed piece took a full quarter of study to research, write, and compile. This argument piece serves as the culminating activity to represent the entirety of each student's argument learning over the span of the semester-long class.
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